David Sylvian’s Post-Virgin Music Celebrated In ‘Do You Know Me Now?’ Boxset
The comprehensive 10” x 10” 10CD box contains all the albums the former Japan frontman recorded for his samashisound label from 2002-2014.
Samadhisound and UMR have announced the August 4 release of samadhisound 2003–2014 Do You Know Me Now, a limited edition deluxe 10”x10’ 10 CD boxset rounding David Sylvian’s post-Virgin Records career on his samadhisound label. The box is presented in a stunning slipcase and features a 100-page hardback book with previously unseen artwork and contextual essays by Sylvian and renowned graphic designer and author Adrian Shaughnessy on the visual aesthetic of the samadhisound imprint.
Shop the best of David Sylvian’s discography on vinyl and more.
In early 2003, having already parted ways with the Virgin label after a record 21 years, David Sylvian enjoyed a sense of both autonomy and – having worked on retrospectives and remixes for the past few years – he knew a change in direction was needed. As a result, that year Sylvian created the samadhisound label for which he claims he created his “most liberated, personal and substantial work” of his creative life. This newly collected 10-CD set contains the entirety of the work Sylvian produced, both solo and in collaboration, over the 11 years of the label’s existence.
The boxset has been beautifully art directed and designed by Sylvian and his partner on all the label’s projects, Chris Bigg. The slipcase features a stunning photograph by Manafon cover artist Ruud Van Empel. There is also a collaboration with artist/musician Lance Austin Olsen for the three of the CD sleeves. The production values of this release are on par with all those that Sylvian & Bigg created for the samadhisound label itself.
samadhisound 2003–2014 Do You Know Me Now? contains all of David Sylvian’s solo albums released on his independent label, samadhisound – Blemish, The Good Son Vs The Only Daughter, Snow Borne Sorrow, When loaud Weather Buffeted Naoshima, Manafon, When We Return You Won’t Recognise Us, Died In The Wool – Manafon Variations – between 2003 and 2014, plus the albums recorded with Nine Horses, Jan Bang & Erik Honoré and Franz Wright & Christian Fennesz. The set also contains an exclusive compilation CD, Do You Know Me Now? featuring non-album tracks recorded with the much-missed Ryuichi Sakamoto and Nine Horses.
Speaking of his time releasing music via samadhisound, Sylvian says “Although I personally maintain samadhisound is the home of my best work it was produced during a very turbulent period that precipitated some devastating changes in my life. I can’t gloss over this fact as it’s incorporated into, and informs the material in many ways. Maybe that’s why, after all this time, outside of any possible musical innovation, it remains so important to me.”
